When using a scanning system, such as an ultrasonic scanner, it may be beneficial to determine quickly whether an object has been scanned by a scanning operation. If an object was not present during the scanning operation, then the information produced by the scanning operation should be discarded and/or ignored without further processing so as to preserve processor availability and conserve energy. However, if an object was present during the scanning operation, then information about that object obtained during the scanning operation may be processed, for example as part of an effort to authenticate an individual that presented the object. If authentication is made, then the individual may be permitted to engage in certain activities. Such activities may include, for example, the use of a smart phone or access to a restricted area within a building.
Methodologies for determining whether an object was present during a scanning operation have centered on determining a standard deviation for pixel information obtained from a scanning operation. Such methodologies have proved to be inaccurate, particularly when the scanner capability has degraded, which often occurs over time. Such inaccuracies may arise from the fact that a degraded sensor often produces complex patterns or noisy images, either of which can be mistaken for an object, when in fact no object has been presented for scanning.